Game Of Thrones Revealed Lady Stoneheart’s Biggest The Winds Of Winter Story (It’s Not Jaime & Brienne)

Game of Thrones cut Lady Stoneheart, the reanimated form of Catelyn Stark, but still reveals her future story in the A Song Of Ice & Fire books.
What happens between Lady Stoneheart, Jaime Lannister, and Brienne of Tarth is one of the biggest questions for The Winds of Winter, but Game of Thrones reveals a more important story for the resurrected Catelyn Stark. Cat being brought back from the dead is one of the biggest twists in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. However, 24 years on from that reveal at the end of A Storm of Swords, her future remains unclear.

Lady Stoneheart is seeking revenge against the Lannisters, Freys, and Boltons. The Winds of Winter may see Brienne betray Jaime for her, with Stoneheart demanding the Kingslayer. HBO’s show cut Cat’s resurrection but, by the time of Game of Thrones’ ending, had still managed to show what the character’s real purpose in the remaining ASOIAF books could be. Likewise, it shows why Jaime’s story shouldn’t end with her.
Lady Stoneheart’s Real The Winds Of Winter Story Is Helping Arya Stark
Catelyn Stark can still help her daughter in A Song of Ice and Fire.
As Game of Thrones went on, Arya Stark became increasingly driven by vengeance, shedding her identity – turning into “no one” – to do so. That was, in part, because of Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding deaths, along with the many other tragedies that befell House Stark. Arya’s kill list and assassin training helped to shape her arc but, in the end, a girl had to be someone again.

In the books, like the show, Arya’s story must be about reclaiming her identity and shedding the need for revenge.

In the books, like the show, Arya’s story must be about reclaiming her identity and shedding the need for revenge. This was one of the best parts of Game of Thrones season 8, which, despite its many flaws, handled Arya’s arc very well and brought it to a satisfying conclusion. In the show, it was ultimately Sandor “The Hound” Clegane who made her turn away from revenge, which made sense given their relationship. The important distinction, though, is that Game of Thrones didn’t use Lady Stoneheart; the books can, and need to.
Thus, it makes a lot more sense of her to fulfill this role in Arya’s story, getting to be the mother figure the audience didn’t really get to see Cat be to her. That way, it’s a Stark who helps her reclaim her identity, and a being of pure vengeance who helps her leave that behind. It can end with Cat/Stoneheart’s true death, which would most likely be sacrificing herself to save her daughter – or daughters, depending on how Sansa fits into things – which is far more fitting and poetic for the character.

The convergence of these two characters is not only fitting, but likely. Much of Arya’s story before heading to Braavos was centered around the Riverlands, where Lady Stoneheart now roams. Game of Thrones season 6 suggests Arya will return there for revenge on the Freys; in the books, Stoneheart herself wants to enact vengeance upon them. There are a lot of moving pieces – and an entire sea to cross – for it to work, but the signs are already there to make this happen.
Why Lady Stoneheart’s Story Needs To Be About More Than Jaime Lannister
Her The Winds of Winter arc must deliver more than revenge.
Bringing back Catelyn Stark for revenge on the Freys, Lannisters, and Boltons is a dark, smart twist, but it would be strange if that’s all there was to it. While Martin resurrection uses to show that people come back differently – meaning that this in some ways foreshadows Jon Snow’s resurrection in The Winds of Winter – to undo a Red Wedding death should hold greater significance.

Her scarred face, haunting presence, inability to speak, and thirst for revenge should be a warning sign to Arya Stark of where she’s headed, and it would give a much greater, more thematically rich purpose to Stoneheart’s story.

There needs to be a true lesson with Lady Stoneheart, and teaching it to Arya is perfect. Much like The Hound made her look at him and see how hatred had made him twisted, something similar can happen with Catelyn. Her scarred face, haunting presence, inability to speak, and thirst for revenge should be a warning sign to Arya Stark of where she’s headed, and it would give a much greater, more thematically rich purpose to Stoneheart’s story. That feels a lot more like the kind of thing Martin would do.
He has already, perhaps, set this up as well. If there is a central point in the story between Lady Stoneheart, Brienne, and Jaime, it is Arya. Jaime, after all, knows that it was a fake Arya (really Jeyne Poole) married off to Ramsay Bolton. What he doesn’t know, though, is that the real Arya is still alive (he believes she is likely dead). But there is someone who knows Arya was last seen in Westeros alive: Brienne.

With this information coming together, as Brienne may take Jaime to Catelyn, then it may kill two birds with one stone(heart). The information provided could be used to help spare Jaime’s life, and eventually lead to the reunion between Lady Stoneheart and Arya that ends with a sacrifice and the latter turning away from vengeance.

This works far better for Jaime, too. His story ending with Lady Stoneheart doesn’t really make sense. Jaime’s arc is defined by his love (and hate) for Cersei, by his Kingslaying, and by his quest for redemption. All of those things should be at play in his conclusion, which is why it will, in some way, need to involve his sister. Therefore, Stoneheart can’t kill him, but Arya can still give the story a proper payoff.
Why Did Game Of Thrones Cut Lady Stoneheart?
Benioff & Weiss had their reasons for changing George R.R. Martin’s story.
It was a disappointment for book readers when Lady Stoneheart didn’t appear in Game of Thrones season 4, which would’ve been the logical time to include her since it lined up with the books. As the seasons wore on, hope diminished and then evaporated completely, the character going unused. There were, however, three key reasons for that, as explained by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss in James Hibberd’s BTS book Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of an Epic Series.

One reason is kept rather vague due to not giving away book spoilers, but it was to do with what Martin had planned for the character compared to the show’s storylines. This may well be due to the show diverging with Jaime and Brienne, or perhaps even because of Arya and Sansa. The other reasons are clearer: Jon Snow’s resurrection, and the impact of the Red Wedding, as Benioff explained:
“We knew we had Jon Snow’s resurrection coming up. Too many resurrections start to diminish the impact of characters dying. We wanted to keep our powder dry for that.”

“Catelyn’s last moment was so fantastic, and Michelle [Fairley] is such a great actress, to bring her back as a zombie who doesn’t speak felt like diminishing returns .”

In the end, those decisions were perhaps for the best. It’s impossible to say how Game of Thrones would’ve turned out had it included Lady Stoneheart, but The Winds of Winter is even more exciting and intriguing with none of her arc having been spoiled in any way.